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A Green Revolution

Have you noticed that every one is talking about green smoothies these days? Or is it just in my little world where people are whizzing up these healthy cocktails and extolling the virtues of drinking your salad?

Green smoothies are nothing new for the raw foodie types, but they are a relatively new addition to our menu. Last summer, during my mother-in-law's visit she prepared green smoothies in the afternoons for snack.

Green snacks are one thing but drinking a green breakfast is another! Damien and I have been doing just that for the last month and absolutely loving it. Damien's been wanting to do this for years but I've been stuck in an oatmeal and rice rut. This is a lovely change, especially for this time of year. My body craves greens and new growth.

The kids have taken sips but have yet to embrace the green-ness (or brown-ness depending on the ingredients) of the experience. Brienne, who least likes vegetables, enjoys these drinks the most - go figure. I am still preparing other breakfasts for the children and I eat a bit of that also. A drink for breakfast, even with nuts added, just doesn't give me enough oomph in the morning. And I should add I drink my coffee right along side with my smoothie.

I wish I had better photos of these tasty meals to show you but quite honestly green smoothies are disgusting to look at, especially when you add berries, which we often do. Instead of being bright green, which is lovely in my opinion, they are baby poop brown. Once you get over the appearance though the taste can't be beat.

I really love starting off the morning this way. I incorporated this morning ritual into my weekend with mom and here she is juicing the fruits to make our morning smoothie. Go mom!

Green Smoothie Recipe

What goes in a green smoothie? Anything you want. We have a Vita Mix (best kitchen investment ever) that can handle nuts and seeds and will blend them up really well so some days we add those also.

This morning's recipe was this:

2 oranges, juiced*

1/2 grapefruit, juiced

1/2 lemon, juiced

1 banana

8 oz. spinach

handful of frozen strawberries

handful of ice cubes

1 mango

Makes approximately 32 oz.

*We use the little hand juicer you see below. You could put the whole fruit in, minus the peel, but Damien prefers the texture of juiced fruits better.

Comments

I started making these into popsicles first. The kids fell in love before they knew what was in them. Now they know, and they drink them up anyway, frozen or not. I usually add raw-milk yogurt and sometimes egg yolks. Our favorites usually have coconut milk also. Time for breakfast!

i love green smoothies and have been drinking them for about a year. my 4 year old prefers pink smoothies (banana+strawberry+carrots/beets) but my 2 year old drinks any thing i make!
one of my favorite recipes is:
2 bananas
1 orange
a bunch of spinach
a drop of vanilla
ice
some water on the bottom of the vitamix
REALLY REALLY TASTY!

That is so sweet that your mom is into this with you too! I will have to pop over and check out her blog. Thanks for including me in your links. I posted my absolute favorite recipe I came up with on The Green Smoothie Challenge blog.

We love green smoothies and have been drinking them for a little over a year. I add all kinds of fruit, spinach, kale and kelp. We also put bran flakes, flax seed and wheat germ into ours. I have never tried it with grapefruit and lemon. Does it make it taste sour? Two of the H kids like it, but the middle H kid is not a big veggie eater.

uh...yeah!!! we are totally there and strangely, *all* of my children love them, even the baby! :0) actually, especially the baby! she begs for them. our favorite is mixed bitter greens with a splash of OJ, pineapple, mango, water, coconut oil (sometimes coconut milk) a banana and a bit of water. if i add less water, we get "ice-cream" consistency which is divine. i don't think they look gross at all, i think they are lovely. my baby calls it her "green ice-cream"...

Do you guys wheat grass? I grew wheat grass in college and used to enjoy wheat grass shots every morning. For some reason, I don't anymore. With the latest in dental news for our family, I'm getting a bit more hardcore with our eating again. Thanks for the links and the inspiration.

No, Damien has a wheat "issue". Not full blown Celiacs as far as we know but digestive discomfort and rashes when he eats gluten. So... no wheat grass. Quite honestly I don't think I could keep up with growing it. I get tired of just sprouting.

I love green smoothies! My girls are okay with them if they are not toooo green. My new trick is to add oatmeal to the smoothie, which makes it much more filling. For a whole blender full (regular blender, not Vitamix), put 1/2 c. oats in the blender by it self, and blend to a powder. Then make your smoothie as usual. (Of course, this won't work if you have steel-cut oats.) Yummy!

My youngest loves smoothies, and will sometimes ask for a green one. He likes his with spinach, banana, cantaloupe and vanilla yogurt. I usually throw some flax seeds in, too. I did notice a renewed interest in green drinks lately! It seems like about 20 years ago I went through this same trend, although back then it was juiced grasses (like wheat grass).

We love green smoothies over here! My 2 year old loves them too! I pack about as much spinach as can fit in my blender, with a tall glass of cold water, blend that up, then add a banana and frozen blueberries and frozen raspberries, not entirely sure how much...I don't measure. We end up with a little over 5 cups, about 42 oz I think. The color of ours are mainly purple though, not green :-) Love them! And they give you so much energy!

We drink green (brown) smoothies around here a lot. And we do the popsicle thing. I often serve them with dinner when I think my little ones might forgo their veggies. They are always up for a smoothie!

Great photos on this post - I drink a green smoothie for lunch every day. Read the books Green for Life and Green Smoothie Revolution by Victoria Boutenko, she is the woman who discovered green smoothies. http://www.greensmoothiesblog.com has her research and answers every green smoothie question you can think of.

Now I am really cracking up. I just came from Lily's blog Serendipitous intentions where she posted about her green smoothie and I admitted I just don't get this challenge. As someone who has enjoyed smoothies for years, I just can't bring myself to join a challenge to force the greenness and daily consumption of a smoothie.
Ditto here...Finn is least loving of veggies and my biggest smoothie fan.
I think your photos are wonderful! We very often add dark frozen berries so that our green smoothies come out purple, instead. The green doesn't go over well, but purple pulls off just fine!
Nicola
ps. the captcha phrase for this comment includes the word "delicious." how appropriate!

I like to eat my greens. But for years I made liters and liters of "green juice" for my boys. Now I sometimes make white smoothies (milk and fruit, pear is the favorite) for my daughter because she doesn't like any dairy products and this is the only way she'll have a glass of milk.

Oooohhh, you should really check out greensmoothiegirl.com! It's the website for the woman who wrote "The Green Smoothies Diet", and it has a lot of information about whole foods and natural living in general.

This is so strange. I cannot believe how different our lives are, yet how many interests we share and how many of the same books we've read. I am a home schooling mom who was home schooled for all of my years K-12, along with 2 sisters. Now, I have my 3 daughters who are learning at home with me. I love your ideas for incorporating dad. I've often wondered what we could do to let him be a part of this. You had some very practical suggestions. I take care of the core work and some extras, but I love the idea of having my husband play a part in this. Thank you!

And on the same page you mention green smoothies. We literally just fed those to our 3 daughters for "bedtime snack" an hour ago. No one noticed the spinach in their drinks.

CBT was recommended to me by a dear trail friend last year. I'm reading this book to train myself to spot errors in my thinking, tackle toxic thoughts, and refocus and retrain my awareness. Big part of Project Home & Healing.

I usually avoid stories like these, the subject matter being too heartbreaking. But this book hasn't dragged me down the way some slavery historical fiction does. Probably because Aminata is such a strong character. Canadian author.

The first book in the series, but number 4 for me (I've been reading them out of order). Having read the last book I wonder if Penny thought out the whole series with book 1 because you see the seeds of book 10.

Enthralling alternative history, fantasy version of early 19th century America. A past-that-wasn't; a land hauntingly familiar in the throes of territorial dispute and conquest, religion and folklore, industry and invention.

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